


Point Of View

by stelleshine



Series: Bali [8]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Homophobia, IKEA, M/M, bali, not so secret relationship, the "f" word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:51:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6393346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelleshine/pseuds/stelleshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke expects the bubble around him and Michael to finally burst. Just not like this. </p><p>OR</p><p>When did this become such a goddamn in depth story?!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Point Of View

Luke knew it was coming.

Of course he did, back in the logical part of his brain that he’d been choosing not to access, but it was there all the same. Their little bubble of happiness wouldn’t last forever, but Luke didn’t think it’d pop _that_ fast.

It was two days after he and Michael got back from Fiji – after four days of rolling around in bed together, and swimming in the ocean and doing absolutely _nothing_ – when the text comes through.

It came while he was standing in IKEA, in front of the many different kinds of drinking glasses, and trying to pick one he liked the most. Michael was off looking at plates, and Luke was _exhausted_ after being dragged all over the store, reminding his boyfriend on many occasions that they didn’t even have a _place_ to put all the things Michael kept piling into their trolley.

He was undeterred, as always, talking about chairs and couches and how he wanted to run fairy lights along the ceiling of their hypothetical lounge room, and Luke was filled with warmth at the picture Michael was painting.

That was, until his phone had vibrated in his pocket, and he was all too happy to pause in his search for the perfect glass to [read it.](http://i66.tinypic.com/15d2kcg.png)

He immediately felt sick, watching as the text bubbles appeared on his screen, at the _accusations_ right there for him to read. He knew she was behind it, knew that she’d spin a twisted tale for her friends that had become _his_ , and now he had to justify himself.

But it _shattered_ him. Out of everyone he’d met, he’d gotten along with Brian the best. They had just _clicked_ , and Luke valued his friendship above a lot of other relationships with people he’d known for years.

So the hatred he read on the screen of his phone made him feel sick, and he wanted to reply and set the record straight, but he wasn’t sure if Brian would want to hear it – or believe him.

“I got plates!”

Luke looked up from his phone as Michael careened towards him, a stack of about twenty plates in his arms. He was momentarily distracted from his text message issue, and a fond smile graced his face.

“What do you think?” Michael asked, setting the stack down in the trolley, and picked up the top one.

The stack was a mix of three colours; moss green, dark grey, and a light pink. They were three colours Luke would _never_ put together, but somehow they worked.

“They’re awesome,” Luke nodded, taking the grey plate from Michael’s hand to see the small pattern along the outside. “But why do we need so many?”

Michael grinned. “There’s three people in my family, and five in yours, and with the Irwin’s and the Hood’s, we needed approximately seventeen plates, and seventeen just isn’t an even number, so I grabbed twenty-two.”

Luke was unable to follow Michael’s logic – which was a regular occurrence, unsurprisingly – and he nodded slowly. “Okay, what?”

Michael rolled his eyes fondly. “C’mon, don’t you love the idea of inviting all our friends over to our new place?”

Luke swallowed, remembering the text messages. “Yeah, well. Maybe they won’t want to come.”

Michael took the grey plate and put it back on the pile. “What do you mean?”

Luke looked down at the black screen of his phone, and handed it over with a sigh.

Michael took it, a perplexed look on his face and unlocked it quickly, punching in Luke’s pin code. The messages tab was still open, the accusatory messages right there for him to read.

He read slowly – probably read it _twice_ – before he looked over at Luke, his expression sympathetic. “I’m sorry, baby.”

Luke sighed, taking his phone back and locked it, sliding it back into his pocket. “It’s fine.”

“No,” Michael said gently. “It’s bullshit that she’s telling people you cheated on her, which isn’t true.”

“Yeah,” Luke mumbled softly. “Just… _faggot_?” he whispered. “I didn’t think people would react that way.”

Michael pulled him in, curling his arms around Luke. “He’s probably just upset on her behalf, considering she’s painting this horrible picture of what happened. That you _cheated_.”

Luke pressed his face into Michael’s neck and sighed. “I mean, I guess I did.”

“Hey,” Michael cautioned softly, kissing his shoulder. “You never slept with her, you never committed to anything more than some casual dates. So who gives a fuck what they think, _I_ know the truth, and so do you.”

Luke knew he was right, and he appreciated Michael’s attempt at comfort, but the text was still eating away at him. He knew he’d have to address it at some point – they were due back in LA in less than a week – but the idea of doing it then and there; in fucking _IKEA_ , wasn’t something he wanted to do.

“Wanna come and help me get bowls?”

Luke smiled, leaning in and kissed Michael gently. “Yeah, lead the way.”

**

The text eats at Luke for the rest of the day. Even when he’s breaking the news to his mum that he plans to move out – at _some_ stage – and that he needs the spare room to store the epic amount of homewares he and Michael bought at IKEA.

She was surprisingly okay with it – Luke knew that Karen might take it hard – and she’d done the motherly thing.

 _I’m so proud of you_ and _my baby is growing up_.

It was sweet, and Michael teased him for it after accepting Liz’s dinner invitation, and the two of them spent the afternoon going over the plates, bowls, glasses, cushions and throw rugs Michael had insisted they get, even though they hadn’t decided on what they were going to do.

There was a part of Luke that wanted to rush and find a place in the six days they had left before needing to go back to America. He wanted a _place_ , where his and Michael’s stuff would live, waiting for them to come back.

But despite his grand dreams, he knew it wasn’t logical. They didn’t have the time to really sit down and decide what to do – rent or buy, city or suburbs – and he didn’t want to waste the last six days they had at home at open houses instead of being with their families.

And that’s what Luke really wanted, in the wake of the text message and reality crashing down on his shoulders that maybe finally coming out would hurt him, more than he thought it would. He could imagine all his friends turning their backs, believing _her_ story over his, and what that would _mean_ for him.

He hated how there was a tiny millisecond of regret in the dark of his bedroom with Michael spooned around him, the older man’s palm pressed flat against his bare chest. He didn’t want to regret being honest, and he didn’t ever want to take it back, either.

But he was unable to sleep, feeling restless and unsure and a little nauseous at the idea of going back to work. It meant having to _face_ it, and he was terrified that he’d lose everything.

He slipped out of bed carefully at close to two am, the house quiet and strangely calming. It made his decision to call Brian seem somewhat wrong, that breaking the quiet of his parent’s house would upset the balance he’d felt since he’d been back from Bali.

But he couldn’t just let it be, he had to know what he was facing when he got on that plane to go back to Los Angeles.

He snuck downstairs, helping himself to a glass of water before stepping out onto the back patio, sliding the glass door shut as he sat down at the picnic table, his phone clutched in his hand.

He sipped his water slowly, setting the glass down on the table before wiping his damp hands on his boxer briefs before he made the call – quick, without hesitating and chickening out.

It rang forever, and Luke wasn’t sure if he wanted Brian to answer, or let the call go.

But the answer came quickly as the call was picked up, hearing rustling on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?”

Luke held his breath, biting down on his bottom lip.

“Jesus, it’s 7AM,” Brian said, his voice gruff.

“It’s Luke,” Luke said quickly, biting down on his lip ring.

“Luke?”

He almost immediately regretted his decision to call, and wondered if hanging up was a good idea.

“What’re you…I mean, what’s up?” Brian asked, his voice piqued with curiosity.

“Look, I never cheated on her,” Luke said quickly, getting straight to the point. “I’ve been with Michael for four years, and I never compromised that when I dated her.”

“Alright,” Brian said slowly.

“And I never slept with her, I never did anything more than give her a few kisses, which she shared with the entire _world_. I broke up with her before Bali, and she found out about me and Michael before we told our parents, and I asked her not to say anything because we wanted our pare-“

“Luke!”

Luke fell quiet, sucking in a deep breath as he realized his words had been coming so quick and fast that he’d barely taken a breath.

“Man,” Brian sighed. “I wanted to apologize for those texts,” he said softly. “About calling you a faggot. That was totally out of line.”

“Oh,” Luke mumbled.

“But I’ve known her for years, man. Sure, she can be shady and dishonest at times, but when she told me that she’d caught you with Michael, that you had cheated, I didn’t know that you’d been with Mike that long. I didn’t know that you and her hadn’t slept together.”

Luke swallowed. “I’ve been with him for as long as I can remember,” he said quietly. “And the only people who knew were Ashton and Calum. Going to Bali made us realize that hiding our relationship wasn’t what we wanted anymore. We wanted to come clean to our parents before letting other people in.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian sighed. “For assuming and jumping down your throat like an asshole.”

“I never meant to hurt her,” Luke said honestly. “And when you set us up I just sort of, _went_ with it, because you were a mate, and she was really nice, at first. I’m not saying she’s a shitty person.”

“I know,” Brian agreed. “She can be difficult, though. And she told me a very different story.”

“I’ve got no reason to lie to you,” Luke said honestly. “You’re my friend and I planned to let you know about all this when it came close to coming back to LA. I just wanted to spend time with Michael here at home without having to worry about keeping it secret.”

Brian sighed. “Look, man. We’re good, okay? I never meant to be a total prick, even though I was, and I’m sorry for that. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ll set people straight, okay? Because she’s fucking vapid.”

Luke laughed weakly. It’s what he’d expected, but he was still apprehensive about going back to LA.

“Seriously, don’t worry. Just enjoy your time with your man and come back feeling good.”

“Alright,” Luke agreed softly. “Thanks for hearing me out.”

Brian laughed. “You’re a mate, remember. That’s what mates do. What they _don’t_ do is send asshole texts, so can we just pretend I wasn’t a total prick yesterday?”

Luke laughed softly. “Yeah okay.”

“Now, you fucking woke me up,” Brian laughed. “It’s gotta be ass o’clock back in Straya, so get your ass back into bed.”

“Will do,” Luke agreed. “Thanks, Brian.”

The hung up and Luke sat at the picnic table a little while longer, drinking the rest of his water before the glass door slid open behind him.

He wasn’t surprised when Michael’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, hands smoothing over his chest.

“Work it out?”

Luke reached up to cover Michael’s hand with his, and leant his head back. “Yeah,” he whispered, feeling the glow of knowing how well Michael knew him settle in his chest.

“Come back to bed,” Michael murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

Luke stood, rounding the chair to pull Michael in against him, shivering a little at the slight chill in the air.

“I love you,” Michael murmured against his throat.

Luke smiled, his hands low on Michael’s bare back, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “I want to live with you.”

Michael laughed softly, pulling back to look up at Luke. “Yeah?”

Luke nodded, kissing the tip of Michael’s nose. “First, I want to smash out an amazing world tour.”

“Hmm,” Michael pondered, lacing his fingers through the messy hair at the nape of Luke’s neck. “That sounds doable.”

“Know what else sounds doable?” Luke teased, leaning in to kiss Michael’s mouth.

“Is it you?” the older man asked against his lips and pulled him inside to the sound of Luke’s laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, I'm in deep with this. I keep thinking of ideas, so I keep writing and this was never meant to be something as big as it is! But I love it, and I love these two and it just works, so I'm gonna keep posting it if that's okay with you guys!
> 
> Special thanks to Skagger, UltimateOptimist, Muke rocks, calumhoodsgloriousnudes, Idjitsinpurgatory, talkingonabrokenline, parader35, K., dreamforlife, 5_secs_of_all_time_low, Lu_Clemmings, Stacey & Jaskara for their comments, and to everyone reading and subscribing and being so awesome!
> 
> xoxo


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